There has been a long-felt need for practical, efficient, and automated guide apparatus capable of scanning hard copy text and/or data in a programmable, user-friendly manner. The most obvious need for such apparatus has been by secretaries or typists who are typing or keyboard entering information or data on a typewriter or into a computer or wordprocessor, from written or text copy.
A number of relatively simple typing copyholders have been used in the past. Early such copyholders were simple mechanical stands generally configured to hold the copy being viewed in upright manner, for ease of viewing by the user. Most such mechanical stands included a ruler or text highlighting bar extending horizontally across the copy, that served the dual purpose of holding the copy against the upright stand and of keeping track of or highlighting the particular line of text being viewed by the operator. Such mechanical units required the operator to physically move the highlighter guide along the copy, or to physically push an actuating bar or lever connected to the guide, to vertically move or step the guide along the copy.
Subsequent efforts at automating such text highlighting apparatus included structures which initiated movement of the guide bar by means of a switch on the keyboard, or by vibration or sound sensors that responded to the presence or absence of typing activity. One such device continuously moved or scrolled the copy relative to a fixed highlighting guide in response to sensed typing vibration. Another acoustically sensed a predetermined time interval of absence of typing activity, and thereafter continuously moved the highlighting guide until the operator resumed typing of the next line of highlighted text. Such apparatus is disruptive to the operator's continuous typing or keyboard entry process, since the operator must pause at the end of each line of entered text in order to actuate movement of the highlighter guide to the next line.
All of such prior art guide scanning structures have been too cumbersome, inefficient, noisy or nonautomated, to be effective and practical for use by an operator. They generally require the operator to disrupt his or her keyboard entry in order to initiate movement of the guide to the next line and/or require the operator to wait for movement of the guide to the next line "after" completion of a line of text as, for example, in the case of sound sensor activated units. None of such apparatus is anticipatory in nature or enables presentability of the guide motion according to an operator's predetermined capabilities or desired text viewing speed.
Such prior art text viewing guides are generally single-purpose in nature. They typically are designed to isolate and scan full "lines" of text, and are not generally adaptable to scan horizontally along a highlighted line of text. Further, they are typically not designed to isolate or scan "columns" of text or data as may be required, for example, by an accountant working with spread sheets or the like. Other uses for such hard copy scanning guide apparatus which are not simultaneously accommodated by the prior art special purpose highlighting structures include such activities as scanning music and scanning written or typed copy for verbal presentation, such as for a speech or other oral presentation. In public speaking, it is important for the orator to provide a smooth presentation to his/her audience without the distraction of shuffling through papers or notes or the disruption caused by continuous need by the orator to relocate his/her place in the notes.
The present invention addresses the above-mentioned needs and shortcomings of the prior art scanning guide structures by means of an efficient, flexible, versatile and user-friendly apparatus. The present invention is particularly applicable in today's era where communication, speed and accuracy in transferring information from data sheets and documents to computers and/or wordprocessing systems are critical. This is particularly true in the medical, high technology, military, education, political, financial and entertainment fields. In such applications, the present invention helps to eliminate human error and increases transferring efficiency by guiding the user's eyes through the text at a programmable speed and according to other options selectable by the user. The present invention can increase the productivity of a person manipulating data on a spread sheet or entering data into a computer by virtue of its unique ability to isolate blocks of data on the copy being viewed. The invention is readily usable by musicians to guide them through their sheet music during performances. The invention is also readily usable by orators, to produce a smooth comfortable delivery from written information, by helping to guide the user's eye through the text while speaking and by providing the orator with flexibility to pause and to change the delivery speed for elaborating on portions of the presentation. The invention helps to eliminate distractions and confusions in the speaker's delivery, thus enhancing audience attention.